A project fostering understanding, disseminating historical and cultural knowledge and creating friendships between the Jewish and Persian peoples.

Jewish and Persian Connections Mission

In response to statements emanating from the Middle East regarding nuclear threat to both the Jewish and Persian peoples, we seek to project an alternative voice on Jewish- Persian relations that disseminates knowledge about the historical and cultural ties between these two peoples, fosters friendship and openings for creative exchange, and contributes to the identity of adults and children of mixed Jewish and Persian ancestry.

Seeking Your Personal Stories and Intellectual Contributions!

Please submit your personal writings on the following topics: a) Relationships between Persians and Jewsb) Raising a Persian Jewish childC) Historical and/or current affairs between Persians and Jews/ Iran and IsraelD) Current Debate: Is the current conflict between Iran and Israel inherently tied into the Israeli- Palestinian conflict?All submissions welcome including poetry, links and other recommendations. Please email any submissions to tiffanyssf@aol.com. Authors are responsible for providing respectful, factually accurate, and fully citated submissions as a pre-requisite for inclusion. Articles should be a minimum of 2 paragraphs in length up to a maximum of 10 pages. Please use proper citation when referencing another writer or speaker. Assume no specific religious knowledge and explain all references to any religions. Translate all non-English words used, including Farsi, Hebrew, Arabic, Ladino or Yiddish. Writers wishing to anonymously post may use their first name only. Please send all submissions to tiffanyssf@aol.com. All information outside of your submission will remain strictly confidential including your email and contact information. Thank you for your contributions!

Friday, January 4, 2008

Taking Issue with Article: The Dating Game

"According to Goldman, who puts on parenting workshops for adults throughout the academic year, several factors explain the double standard. First is the influence of the Islamic culture that, some critics say, dictates the second-class status of women." Wrong and even if it were true why would a community nearly 10000 miles from those nasty Moslems and after 30 years would still choose to practise backward Islamic customs in place of their tolerant Jewish ways?

""The woman's job was to be subservient," Goldman said. "She had to stay home and take care of the children." My word, has this lady met any Iranian women? I mean to say, The mere hint of male chauvinism in our family would be enough to start WW III. Ms. Goldman should look closer to home for cultural bias towards women. God bless the United States of Amnesia.

"Women must still wear the traditional head covering, the chador, and are forbidden to ride bicycles in public parks and streets." They are forced to wear the head scarf which is not the same as the chador by the fanatics in power. We should send Ms. Goldman to Southern California or indeed BC, Canada to see for herself the heights reached by Iranian women in academia and employment. Remember the first female tourist in space, Anoosheh Ansari? Paid for the trip out of her own vast wealth made from selling her telecom company. How about Nazanin Afshin-Jam? Does she look oppressed to you? Dr. Fariba Sadri, the head of computer science at Imperial College, London - I mean to say, Judging by her CV she does come across as a shrinking violet who couldn't manage her life without a man."A second factor is class, Goldman said. In Iran, a country based on a class system, the upper echelon could afford to send their male children abroad for education. Thus the men had greater opportunities and freedom to mingle with Western women." I can think of at least a dozen families who sent their daughters to places like France, Germany or the UK for university education.

"A third factor, according to Goldman, is the fact that Jews in Iran were a minority and consequently adhered more to their cultural ways. Most considered pre-maritalsex and intimacy unacceptable, as stipulated by Jewish laws." Wait a moment! Ms. Goldman has just contradicted her earlier statement. So which is it to be, Islamic ways force-fed to Persian Jews or Jewish customs that impose these social inequities on Jewish women?"Here in America, Jewish Iranians again represent a minority community. "But because mainstream Americanculture is so different, some values are played out more strongly than they were in the homeland and adhered to with greater tenacity," Goldman said. In Iran this system seemed to work well, observers say. But America is a different story, especially for the new generation of youth born and reared in a culture so different from that of the older generation." Does this not represent a different issue, that is to say, the inherent hostility in the U.S. towards anyone or anything different to the morality of Sex in the City? Let's all jump into bed with each other and pick up VD but who cares? We're Americans. The world is America and the rest of the planet a theme park which must live up to American standards.I am getting fed up with the likes of Ms Goldman who on the surface purport to speak for reason and progress but in reality care for nothing but their own political agenda. I remember once reading one of these blogs in which the author referred to "Kalimi as a pejorative term. Kalimi means the people of the word of god. Of course, idiots like him do not care about the truth. Their aim is to blacken Iran and Iranians, as if we don't get enough negative publicity in the mainstream media. The picture created is often that of a country which is the ultimate Islamic paradise and the very symbol of hate and repression for everybody else. Only the other month the UN published a report condemning the treatment of Soofis in Iran. There's been no mention of the situation in the media here in the UK.When I was little everyone was Iranian first and Moslem, Jewish, Christian, Baha'I etc. second. We could all get together under the same roof and eat Iranian food, laugh at Iranian jokes, listen to Iranian music and, well, gossip about other Iranians. Will we be doing the same thing in 20, 30, 40 years?Islam, Judaism Christianity, they are all words of Allah, according to the Koran. Allah, a derivative of allam,that is, the ultimate universal set from which everything originates and which is represented in everything. The Persian word for God, Khoda is perhaps the closest you can get to the semantics of the concept. Just think, Khod-a, from within; the universe within. That's what it's all about and not a bunch of bearded blokes up there in the heavens who send down miracles or disasters to their respective followers.Laurence Aryan

About Founder

As the daughter of an Iranian Muslim father and Israeli Jewish mother, I was born to care about the relationship between Jews and Persians. At times confusing, at times miraculous, this unique combination has given me the insights to love the stranger within and question cultural and religious stereotypes.
I have always been passionate about Human Rights and have worked and studied in international relations, development, education and international business. My graduate degree as well as various life experiences from living abroad and travelling in the Middle East created the impetus within me to become an active creator of the destiny of my peoples.